if you've never watched buffy its a must (pretty different and cornier sometimes but still awesome), it's interesting that basically the same network picked up a vampire story a few yrs after buffy was canceled

I loved Buffy. Never watched the Vampire Diaries, and from the *horridly* crass commercial at errmmm 5pm on regular TV, I don't think I ever will. I was kinda shocked at the commercial and wished my kids hadn't seen it - we were visiting my mom and it just came on during Cold Case. Trashy, not witty.

They're not even comparable. But if I have to choose, I will always choose Buffy.

It's like comparing Twilight and Harry Potter. The stories are so radically different. Only a few elements are the same. There are vampires in it. That's it.

The lore is different. The powers the vampires have are different. The manner in how they're hunted and killed is different. Vampire Diaries is much like Twilight where the central character is a plain girl who anyone can slip themselves into her mind and relate. She's fairly narcissistic and rather annoying (neither Bella nor Elena are my favorite characters in either story, can you tell?). They're in love with a supernatural "monster" who have consciences and souls etc. It also parallels Twilight (or rather, Twilight parallels VD (*snort* VD.... telling eh?) as LJ created VD long before Meyer created Twilight) in the types of supernatural creatures who are involved (i.e., werewolves).

In Buffy, except for the rare case (aka, Angel (gag me) and later, Spike (nom)), the vampires are evil. They have no soul. They are not capable of humanity. Except for in the two rare cases, the objective is kill or be killed. And yes, Buffy is a seemingly normal, but beautiful girl. But it's appearance. In actuality, from the beginning, she is set apart. A theme that is continued throughout the entire series. Even as she makes friends, has lovers, etc., she's always alone. She can never fully connect because she knows that she will either have to sacrifice them, or herself, to save "the world."

And this is without taking into account that Buffy is much more well-written and directing is MUCH MUCH MUCH better. The show also gets more serious and ages with Buffy. The fights more epic, the villains more insidious and unexpected. Think about it... University courses are taught on Buffy. I don't think the same will ever be for Vampire Diaries or Twilight.

I loved the Vampire Diaries books (the original three, then the fourth later) in middle school, but the tv series... I tried a couple of episodes, but no. I described it to a friend as trying to watch Dawson's Creek with fangs. Then I found out that the Dawson's Creek creators are the ones making it. Blech.